Category Archives: Transhuman News

Human Genetics I

By: McIntoshBiology

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Human Genetics I - Video

A group of scientists has created artificial human sperm and eggs using human embryonic stem cells and skin cells. While researchers have already previously accomplished this using rodents, this is the first time they were able to replicate the process with human cells.

Their final products were not actually working sperm and eggs, but rather germ cells that potentially could mature and become viable for fertility. The study's findings were published Wednesday in the journal Cell.

"Germ cells are 'immortal' in the sense that they provide an enduring link between all generations, carrying genetic information from one generation to the next," Azim Surani, PhD, professor of physiology and reproduction at the University of Cambridge, said in a press release.

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When an egg is fertilized by a sperm, it begins to divide into a group of cells called a blastocyst, which is the stage right before the embryo is formed. Some of the cells inside this blastocyst cluster will develop into a fetus, while others eventually become the placenta.

Some cells are set up to become stem cells, which will then have the potential to develop into any type of cell in the body. And some cells in the fetus become primordial germ cells and eventually evolve into the cells of either sperm or eggs, which will allow this offspring to pass their genes on to a future generation.

In the study, the researchers identified a single gene known as SOX17, which is directly responsible for ordering human stem cells to become the cells that will turn into sperm and eggs. The scientists say this discovery on its own is surprising, because this gene is not involved in the creation of primordial cells in rodents. In humans, the SOX17 gene is also involved in helping to develop cells of the lungs, gut and pancreas.

The scientists harvested these cells by culturing human embryonic stem cells for five days. They then showed that the same process could be replicated using adult skin cells.

This doesn't mean men and women will soon be donating skin cells rather than sperm and egg at fertility clinics. Eventually, however, the findings could open the door to more intensive research on human genetics and certain cancers, and could impact fertility treatments sometime in the future.

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Scientists create artificial human eggs and sperm

CAMBRIDGE, England, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- The first time in history, researchers have successfully used human embryonic stem cells to create primordial germ cells, cells that divide and mature into egg and sperm. Previously, the feat had been accomplished using rodent stem cells -- not those from a human embryo.

"Researchers have been attempting to create human primordial germ cells (PGCs) in the petri dish for years," leader author Jacob Hanna, a researcher in the Institute's Molecular Genetics Department, said in a released statement.

Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells capable of dividing and transforming into specialized cells. They are the most basic of biological building blocks.

"The creation of primordial germ cells is one of the earliest events during early mammalian development," study co-author Naoko Irie, researcher at the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge, said in a press release.

"It's a stage we've managed to recreate using stem cells from mice and rats, but until now few researches have done this systematically using human stem cells," Irie added.

Researchers say the newly realized feat has revealed differences between embryo development in humans and rodents -- discrepancies that could undermine studies that extrapolate mice and rat-based evidence to human-related conclusions.

"Having the ability to create human PGCs in the petri dish will enable us to investigate the process of differentiation on the molecular level," Hanna said.

The research was published this week in the journal Cell.

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Scientists create human primordial cells in the lab